Jon Williams is a New York CTO, a technology networker, and an Australian-American. Email jon at jonwilliams.com

Thursday, May 31, 2007

The fuzzy bit

Technologists think in black and white, zeros and ones, yes or no. But management is not all about yes or no. There is a grey area, let's call it the fuzzy bit. (For non-techs, a "bit" is the smallest unit of storage or calculation, and all other elements are comprised of bits. Each of the letters typed here are comprised of 8 or 16 bits, depending on which system you are viewing them from).

When I programmed on proprietary motherboards, we would occasionally come across a fuzzy bit, which oscillated between zero and one. As a programmer, the fuzzy bit caused all sorts of inexplicable errors in my code, but in management, it's an essential tool in the process of decision-making. Why? It promotes discussion and collaboration in reaching a final outcome, either one way or another. Technologists are not always comfortable with this, prefering a known, immediate outcome. But, an outcome squelchs discussion and exploration.

As a programmer, the fuzzy bit cost me countless lost days and all-nighters, and I dreaded encountering it. As a manager, I couldn't live without the fuzzy bit.

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About Me

Jon started this blog as an opportunity to share his
technology management experience with a wider audience. Jon is technology advisor in NYC. Jon's past experience as a technology executive / CTO includes Experian CheetahMail, iVillage / NBC Universal, Kaplan, Grey Healthcare, Time Warner, Scholastic, Flat World Knowledge, Oxygen Media, News Corporation, CDnow, 24/7 Media and Bigfoot Interactive.
Jon was born in Australia, and moved permanently to the USA in 1986. In 2000, Jon co-founded the New York CTO Club, a non-profit professional organization, which provides a monthly forum for 80+ technology leaders from many of New York’s best-known companies to share strategies and ideas in a collaborative and collegial environment. Jon is also a mentor in Columbia University’s Executive Masters in Technology Management program, where he helps students present technology plans to business stakeholders. In 2008 he was named one of Infoworld’s top 25 CTOs.